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Thursday I've got an appointment with Clifford Roberts. And I need some help from you.
I haven't seen him in about a decade. The piece I wrote in November, 1998 was headlined 'Working the Wood While He Can." It was about this master violin maker in South Philadelphia whose muscular distrophy made each movement successively harder. He was doing painstaking work against the clock.
This time we're going to talk about what it is like to move about this region in a wheelchair.
Got any ideas?
Do you know of any places where this is particularly challenging? Public places? Restaurants? SEPTA?
Where should I have Clifford take me? What would you be curious to know?
He's got his own ideas. When I called today, he said, "This is something I've been thinking about for years. I see many people of all ages who have disabilities -- and not just people in wheelchairs. It's a disgrace that no one gives a ---. There are all these ADA laws in this city and they're ridiculous."
So, another experiment launches. (note to self: inform editor some time)
What if this space made room for a little writing about writing?
A blog about a column about a place.
But I'm not talking about shining the light in -- go rent a Charlie Kaufman movie for that. I'm talking about shining the light outward. I'm going to try to use this space to chronicle what it is like to try to take the pulse of the place.
Basically, it means I can finally find an outlet for all the bizarro phone calls, all the wild goose chases, all the little moments that can't quite make it into full-length columns, but are noteworthy nonetheless.
We'll see.